2 remanded in ED custody in DJB tender case

The two accused —retired DJB chief engineer Jagdish Arora, and contractor Anil Agarwal — were arrested on Wednesday night

A Delhi court on Thursday remanded two people to four days’ custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case registered in connection with alleged irregularities in tendering contracts of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

ED initiated its probe on the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI in 2022, regarding the alleged irregularities in the award of a contract. (HT Photo)

The two accused —retired DJB chief engineer Jagdish Arora, and contractor Anil Agarwal — were arrested on Wednesday night. The federal agency produced them before the court on Thursday, seeking custody for a period of seven days.

The court granted ED a remand of four days. “The magnitude of the amount involved in the matter and the extent of investigation itself reflects the gravity of the offence. Thus, the court cannot divest the investigating officer the opportunity for comprehensive and sustained interrogation of the accused. Their exists sufficient grounds in the application to justify the ED custody,” said special judge Bhupinder Singh.

ED initiated its probe on the basis of a first information report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022, regarding the alleged irregularities in the award of a contract for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters and corresponding operations and maintenance for a period of five years.

ED, in its remand application, claimed that that Arora had illegally awarded a DJB contract to NKG Infrastructure in 2018 for a negotiated cost of ₹38,02,33,080 — despite the fact that the company did not meet the technical eligibility criteria. It was further pointed out that NKG Infrastructure obtained the bid by submitting forged documents.

The federal agency also averred that NKG Infrastructure later sub-contracted the work to Integral Screws Industries, which is managed by Agarwal. ED told the court that Agarwal had, on receipt of funds from the contract taken from DJB, layered them by transferring it to the accounts of various shell companies.

It was further alleged that Arora also received a bribe from Agarwal to the tune of ₹2.5 crore through OSR enterprises, controlled and managed by a common associate. It was also disclosed that the money was transferred to the accounts of other people, from where cash was withdrawn and handed over to Arora or was given to some other person on his instructions.

Special public prosecutor (SPP) Manish Jain and advocate Ishaan Baisla, appearing for ED, stated that the custody is required in order to confront the accused with some people who have been summoned by the agency, and to confront them with certain data.

It was further stated that custody is also required to trace other accused suspected of involvement in the case, and to trace the proceeds of crime.

The counsels appearing for the accused vehemently opposed the remand application, stating that their clients have been falsely implicated. It was also pointed out that no specific dates have been given for the transactions.

The court thus after going through the applications and hearing the arguments of the counsels granted remand till February 5.